Prim in the Games
by CahillGirl2001
Summary: [COMPLETE!] My name is Prim Everdeen. I am a tribute in this year's Hunger Games. My fellow tribute, a boy of thirteen named Danvid Archettah, has become my best friend and I don't know how I can be expected to try and kill him or my other new friend, Rue. All I know is that I have to make it back to my sister in District Twelve, no matter what.
1. Prim in the Reaping

**Hey guys! Alright so I hope that you guys like this. I just had the idea that, if Prim went, I honestly think that she could make it through. Everyone thinks that she is too weak and sweet to ever be able to win, but I don't think so. She seems like she would be able to do so she's resourceful enough. **

**Alright, so enough of my Prim-rambling. I hope that you all like this chapter and, even more, that you all like this story. I'll let you get to reading!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own nothing.**

**Chapter One: Prim in the Reaping**

"Primrose Everdeen!"

My breath stopped. Had she just called out what I thought? But of course my suspicions were confirmed when everybody around me turned and looked at me. My best friend Amabella looked at me with a startled and fearful expression on her face.

"Where are you dear?" I heard Miss Trinket call from the podium. "Come on! Come up!"

As if of their own accord, my feet began to move until I came to the front of the crowd. Two people dressed in white, Peace Keepers, grabbed me by the arms and roughly dragged me up to the podium, my sister Katniss screaming from behind me. She sounded scared, and that only served to scare me more. I looked over my shoulder at her.

"Katniss!" I called above her voice, my own shaking in fear. "Take care of mom!"

"NO!" she yelled. "I voluntee-"

My eyes widened in horror at what she was about to say, and before I could stop myself, I shouted, "I volunteer!"

The entire place went deadly quiet, and as I walked up to the podium with the guards, resuming my walk, I heard Katniss yelling and screaming behind me, and looking over my shoulder I saw Gale holding her back. Tears raced down my face as I trekked up to the podium and went to stand beside Miss Trinket.

"Hello dear," she said, her voice happy and a grin on her face. "And how old are you, miss Primrose?"

"Twelve," I whispered, my voice filled with dread and my face dripping wet. "I'm twelve."

"Well then," said MissTrinket. "Let's give a round of applause for our lady tribute!"

Nobody said or did anything for a moment, and then one by one everyone began holding up our district's sign.

"And now for the boys," Miss Trinket said after a moment, reaching into the bowl of papers on the boy's side. When she finally came out with it, she looked up, and with a slightly less happy voice, said, "Danvid Archettah."

I looked at the boy, standing frozen in the middle of a crowd of boys all looking at him. He was about a year older than me, with dirty blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes that reflected the fear that I was feeling. Slowly, he came up and, without a single word from anyone in the audience, stood on the opposite side of Miss Trinket. "Ladies and gentlemen," she said. "This year's District Twelve Tributes!"

* * *

><p>"You have three minutes," said the guard from right outside the door of the dark room that they had put me in for the moment. "Make it quick."<p>

"Prim!" cried Katniss as the door was shut behind her and mom. "Why would you do something like that? I could have saved you Prim!"

"I'm sorry Katniss!" I said, more tears flowing when I saw the fearful tears in her eyes. "I didn't mean to!"

Katniss seemed to suddenly understand just how very scared I was, and knelt in front of me. "Shhh," she said, wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug. "It's gonna be okay Prim. You can win this, I know you can. Think of all the times that you helped Gale and me with the hunting. I know you don't like to, but you know how to use a hunting knife, and I've started teaching you to use a bow as well. You can be okay. Just try to win for me, and know that no matter what I believe in you. Remember the pin that I gave you this morning. As long as you wear it, no harm can come to you."

I tried my hardest to believe her words, to let them give me hope. But it didn't help, I thought as I walked out the door, that she seemed to be trying as hard as me to believe in what she had said.

* * *

><p>The train they took me to was luxurious, if I could pay them no other compliment. The rooms were lovely and bright, though very lonely. Neither Danvid nor I wanted to talk, so it was quiet, though I could feel his eyes on me for the last five minutes before our new mentor, Haymitch, a tall man with long, blonde hair, walked in. More like stumbled in, actually.<p>

He sighed as he looked at me and the boy next to me. "Congratulations," he said in a heavy voice. He walked over to the tray next to Danvid, where several different types of alcohol sat, and grabbed a red one that looked something like wine, but was slightly different.

"Where's the ice?" he said finally, after he had poured the liquid into his glass.

"I don't know," the boy next to me finally spoke up. Haymitch didn't seem to like that answer much, and put down the flask that he was looking for ice in rather hard, causing a clink on the glass tray.

"Okay," I said finally, my voice low, showing how scared I was. "When do we start training then?"

Haymitch looked at me not unlike one would look a mental patient. "So eager," he said. "Most of you aren't in such a hurry."

"Yeah," said Danvid from beside me. His voice was slightly deeper than a young boy's, but not so much as a man's. "That's the plan. You're our mentor. You're supposed to teach us how to get sponsors, how to stay alive."

"Oh," said Haymitch. "Okay. So, um, embrace the probability of your imminent death, and know in your heart that there is nothing I can do to save you." He smiled sarcastically in the way that only a drunk man can.

I frowned. "So why are you here?" I asked timidly. "You're supposed to help us, aren't you?"

"Hmm," he said. "The refreshments."

"Okay," said Danvid. "I think that you've had enough to drink."

As Danvid tried to reach for the drink in the older man's hand, suddenly Haymitch shifted and before my eyes could register what was happening, Danvid was sitting down again in the chair, his back pushed all the way back as Haymitch's foot rested on his chest, keeping him back. "You made me spill my drink," he said. "On my brand new pants." He began to get up. "You know," he said. "I think I'll go finish this in my room."

And with that he was off.

Danvid and I stared after him for a moment before he sat back up. "He'll come around," he said, looking over at me. "Right?"

I frowned slightly. "I don't know," I said. "But I hope so. I don't think that we have much more of a chance of survival if he doesn't."

We sat there in silence for a bit before finally I got up. "I'm going to go watch TV," I said. "Maybe I can find something on past competitions that will help us."

"Alright," said Danvid. "Can I go with you?"

I nodded at him and together we went to another very well furnished car, where there was a couch in front of the TV, and turned it on. On it was the news man, Caesar Flickerman.

"They're twelve and thirteen year olds," he was saying, videos of past competitions playing behind them. I looked at Danvid. He knew just as well as I did that we were the topic of conversation. "That's never happened before. I have to say, they do seem like the underdogs."

"Yes they do," said the other man next to Caesar, before looking behind them at the screen. "Do you remember this year?"

"Yes I do," said the Mister Flickerman. "It was one of my favorite years, as well as my favorite arenas. The use of the rubble in the ruined city; it's very exciting."

Suddenly the screen changed and it was a picture of a perhaps sixteen year old black boy, laying over another boy, a brick in his hand as he raised it above his head and brought it back down on the other boy's skull repeatedly. "Look at that moment," said Caesar. "That is a moment you never forget; the moment that a tribute becomes a victor."

I couldn't stand it anymore; I turned off the TV, leaning back on the couch, and bringing my knees up so that my chin rested on them. "No," I repeated to myself quietly. "No, no, no."

A second later a hand reached out and touched my back, running smooth circles over it over and over. I looked up to see that Danvid was leaning over me, rubbing my back and mouthing out the tune to a song that Katniss had taught me when we were little, and had in fact sung to me that morning.

"Deep in the meadow, under the willow, a bed of grass, a soft green pillow…" I whispered. He looked at me, an odd look in his eye, and scooted a bit closer, wrapping his arm around me tentatively. I sighed. This had been a nightmare so far, and I hadn't even gotten there yet. I couldn't even think what would happen when eventually it came down to actually having to kill someone, including the person currently consoling me, just to let me survive.

The next morning I woke up later than usual for some odd reason, and found that I was alone. Taking my two braids down from my hair, I quickly put my hair back up in the simple high ponytail that I usually wore it in before stepping out into the hallway and making my way to the dining car for breakfast.

Once there, I found that Haymitch and Danvid were already there and having breakfast. "–You'd freeze to death first," Haymitch was saying.

"No," said Danvid. "I would light a fire."

"Well that's a good way to get killed."

"How come?" I asked, making myself known finally. Haymitch looked over at me.

"Oh joy," he said. "Why don't you join us? I was just giving some life-saving advice."

"Like what?" I asked.

"I was just asking how to find shelter," said Danvid.

"Which would come in handy if you were, in fact, still alive," said Haymitch.

"How do you find shelter?" I asked.

"Pass the jam please," Haymitch said, ignoring my question.

I ignored him. If I was going to learn anything, I was going to have to do what Katniss would do in this situation. "How do you find shelter," I repeated.

"Give me a chance to wake up, sweetheart," said Haymitch, his tone hard and annoying. "This mentoring is very taxing stuff." He poured himself some liquid that looked almost like tea, but definitely wasn't, from a flask. "Can you pass the marmalade-?"

Before he could finish his sentence, my hand moved from the knife I was holding and, before anyone could blink, the knife was stabbed into the table right between his middle and index fingers where he had tried to grab the butter. From behind me, I heard the startled gasp from Miss Trinket.

"That is mahogany!" she yelled in a scolding tone.

I ignored her, my eyes boring into Haymitch's angry ones. "Look at you," he said, his voice sarcastic as he grabbed the knife from the table. "You just killed a placemat."

I said nothing and simply watched him as he looked at me and Danvid. "You wanna know how to survive?" he asked, the topic changing abruptly as he looked at me. "You get people to like you. Oh, not what you were expecting? Well, in the middle of the games, when you're starving, or freezing, some water, a knife, or even some matches can mean the difference between life and death. And those things only come from sponsors. And to get sponsors, you have to make people like you. And right now, sweetheart, you aren't doing a very good job."

"There it is," said Danvid suddenly, getting up and rushing to the window. "It's huge. That's incredible."

I watched out the window with Haymitch and Danvid as we rolled into the city, the crowd outside the train roaring with applause. "Come on!" said Danvid.

"You better take this knife," said Haymitch, holding up the knife from earlier. "He knows what he's doing."

* * *

><p>Not too long later, I was brought into a room with lots of cubicle-like things where people dressed like doctors came in and shaved, waxed, pricked, and hosed me before finally leaving me alone for a while, laying on a brightly lit bed that reminded me vaguely of an x-ray machine.<p>

I laid there, staring at the ceiling for a few before a man's voice broke through the silence, making me sit up in surprise. "That was the most touching thing I've ever seen," the man said. "With your sister. My name's Cinna."

Cinna was a black man of about twenty-five years old, with curly hair and dark eyes, wearing all black. His eyes were very kind. "Look," he said. "I'm sorry that this happened to you. But I'm here to help you in any way I can."

"Most people offer congratulations," I said. "Not condolences."

"Well," said Cinna. "I don't see the point in that. So tonight, there's going to be a Tribute Parade. They're gonna take you out and show you to the world."

"So you're here to make me look pretty," I said.

"I'm here," said Cinna. "To help you make an impression. Now, usually they dress you in clothes from your district."

"Yeah," I said. "Mine's coal miners."

"Yeah but I don't wanna do that," said Cinna. "I wanna do something that they're gonna remember. I take it they told you about sponsors?" I nodded. "Well then let's see how good you are at making friends. I just think that somebody who would do something like you and your sister did shouldn't be dressed up in some stupid costume, now should they?"

"I hope not," I said, smiling.

* * *

><p>"Are you ready?" asked Cinna a while later, looking between both me and Danvid.<p>

We were both wearing dark blue– I had on a knee length dress with inch-thick straps that was tight around the bodice before loosening in the skirt. The bodice had a sweetheart neckline and was covered with black lace with several intricate designs in it of small flowers –primroses. To show that my district was coalminers, Cinna had made it so that the dress looked charred in some places, with the blue being even darker in those places. My hair was done in a beautiful bun atop my head, with two strands hanging down from either side, and in front of the bun, on a gorgeous silver comb, was a dark blue primrose. For shoes I wore black two-inch heels. Meanwhile, Danvid was wearing a regular suit with a blue shirt and black vest and pants. Pinned to his lapel was the same blue flower that I sported– a dark blue primrose. His hair was spiked slightly and looked wonderful. His shoes were slick back dress shoes. Both of us held nervous looks on our faces.

"I'm ready," I said, though my voice was shaking and I was trying to convince myself just as much as him that I was okay with all of this.

Beside me, Danvid nodded in agreement. "I'm ready too," he said.

Cinna smiled and nodded at both of us. "Good luck," he said as we got into the carriage.

I looked straight ahead as our carriage was pulled into the arena, not daring to focus on anything and hoping that the look on my face was more of a smile than a grimace.

As we pulled out into the sunlight, I could feel the stares of thousands of people, and I couldn't help but feel a bit nervous and bashful. I took a deep breath to calm myself like Katniss had taught me, and luckily that seemed to work, so I did so again.

Suddenly I felt Danvid's hand brush my own, trying to hold it, and before he could do so I pulled my hand away. "Oh come on," he said, looking down at me slightly. "They'll love it."

I thought about it for a moment. Cinna and Haymitch had said that we needed to make an impression…

I grabbed Danvid's hand and I couldn't help the grin that lit up my face as he smiled and we pushed our intertwined hands into the air above us. The crowd went wild and I could hear Mister Flickerman yelling into the microphone, but couldn't bring myself to care what he was saying as our chariot made its way to President Snow before stopping.

In that moment I could only imagine the grin that Katniss was most likely sporting at home.

**Alright sorry guys but I had to stop it there. The chapter was getting long, and I didn't want it to go over 3,000 words. Anyway, I would love to know what you all think of it! Please review! I'll update in a week!**

**-CahillGirl2001**


	2. Prim in the Interview

**Hello my lovelies! Alright so I do believe that I got at least some good attention for the last chapter, so I hope that this one will be the same. I honestly don't have much to say at this point so I'll just reply to my reviews and be done.**

**Rachel Kate Doxey: Hello again to you. About Prim's boldness… I honestly think that she is a bit underestimated by most people who have read/watched the series because her sister steps into the light so much more than her, leaving her to the background a bit. I think that, were she given the chance, she would be much more… shall we say, outgoing. Also, about it being in her POV – honestly I don't see the sense in writing it in her sister's POV if the story focuses on Prim. That just seems redundant to me. I am so glad that you liked the first chapter so much. I hope that you enjoy the interview stage!**

**Chapter Two: Prim in the Interviews**

A little later, Haymitch and Miss Trinket (who I had been told to call Effie now) brought me and Danvid up to our "home" for the time until we would begin the games, and I went straight to my room to try and release all the stress I was feeling.

It was mainly black, with a few lights here and there to brighten it a bit. In the center, straight across from the door, was a small area where the floor had been lowered and a set of steps led down into it. The floor in that one area was greenish-yellow, as was the bed that was sitting in the space. The blankets on the bed were a bluish-grey, and very soft-looking. The pillows were a mix of the greenish-yellow and the bluish-grey, with two of each color.

I sat on the bed and looked around– on one side there was a window that showed the city outside. On the bedside table was a small grey remote. I picked it up and pressed a button, and suddenly the window view changed. First I was looking out onto a busy street with people walking all around, and then when I pressed it again the scene changed again. A desert first, then a forest not unlike the one at home. I looked at it in shock for a moment before quickly changing the scene– I couldn't afford to be sentimental about home.

The scene changed back and I quickly left the room, fighting back tears. Oh, how I wished I had Katniss or even mom to comfort me right now.

* * *

><p>The next day, I found myself in the new training room where I would spend my time for the next few days until we went into the Games. I vaguely heard the announcer woman talking and telling us about the room, but I couldn't bring myself to think on her words. Instead, I waited quietly until she finished talking before going over to the knife throwing station. My skills with a knife could definitely use some work, and Haymitch had told me not to show my medic skills to the other tributes.<p>

I grabbed a knife from the stack and look at it for a moment, gauging its weight. It was light, which meant it was for throwing. I did as Katniss had taught me that one time she took me hunting– I might not have liked the thought of killing an innocent creature, but now the skill might just save my life. I grabbed it in my right hand, my dominant one, and looked at the dummy they had set up. I tallied up the approximate distance and then, like Katniss taught me, I threw the knife into the torso area of the dummy.

The knife soared through the air and then pierced the dummy about six inches to the right of the heart, where I had been aiming. I wasn't as disappointed as I perhaps should have been; it was actually one of my better shots.

Nobody seemed to notice my shot and I whirled around when I heard a yell from behind me. "You took my knife!" yelled the boy from District Two, Cato I believe. He had to be held back by a peacekeeper lest he hurt the boy that he was currently trying to punch. Next to them both I saw an ebony-skinned boy grinning and looking up at the ceiling.

Following his gaze, I saw that he was looking at a girl about my age, not much taller or wider than me, with the chocolate colored skin and black hair. She was grinning as she looked on in amusement, the knife in her hands. She caught me looking after a moment and, still grinning, put a finger to her lips, silently telling me not to say a word.

* * *

><p>"You know who he is?" asked Haymitch later that day, at dinner. "He's a Career."<p>

"From District One," Danvid answered.

"And Two," I added.

"They train at a special academy till their eighteen, when they volunteer for the Games. By that point they're pretty lethal."

"But they don't receive any special treatment," said Effie. "In fact they stay in the exact same apartment as you do. And I don't think they let them have dessert, and you can."

"So how good are they?" I asked.

"Well obviously they're pretty good," said Haymitch. "They win it almost every year."

"Almost," said Effie.

"But they can be arrogant," said Haymitch. "And arrogance can be a big problem. It means that they overestimate themselves and underestimate everyone else."

I nodded. "So we just have to find a way to use that against them?"

"Exactly," said Haymitch.

I thought about that for a moment. What he was saying made sense– if I could pretend, around them at least, that I didn't know how to do much for myself in the training arena then they would believe I couldn't and they would underestimate me. Underestimation was dangerous.

We spent the rest of that day discussing the other team's weaknesses, how to use them to our advantages, and who we would possibly become allies with in the Games. So far, I had found two possible allies: A girl from District Five with red hair and sky blue eyes named Finch Crossly, and the girl from District Eleven, who I had come to know was named Rue Stenberg. Both had shown potential, and if they were doing the same as Danvid and I, they were probably even better than they appeared.

The next few days were actually spent watching the other tributes to see what to look out for, as well as trying to learn new skills. Having one skill was good, Haymitch said, but having many would greatly enhance our chances of winning. And honestly, I had every intention of going home at the end of this.

I also found that whenever Danvid or I was upset, especially when one of the Careers decided to make our lives hard as they so often did, we somehow managed to go to each other before anyone else. He had become a friend to me in the short time I had known him, and I didn't quite know what I thought of that.

On the one hand, I needed someone to talk to about all of this. I didn't think I could make it through by myself. I needed a friend. But on the other hand, I didn't want to get too attached to any of the tributes for fear that when the time came I would be unable to kill them in order to keep myself alive. I had seen that happen in too many of the past games, and it had had disastrous results every time.

* * *

><p>Four days later I found myself in the waiting room outside of the training area, waiting to be scored based on my skill. I had decided that I would use what I was best at: healing, as well as use my now-good skill with a knife to my advantage.<p>

So I waited my turn, and when I was finally called Danvid gave my hand a light squeeze, silently telling me that it would be okay, and with one last look at him I walked into the training area.

When I got in there, I heard the Capitol people laughing and talking. Taking a deep breath to calm my ire, I walked forward and, as loud as I dared, I spoke. "Primrose Everdeen," I said. "District Twelve."

The Capitol people looked at me briefly, still paying mostly attention to their drinks, but I supposed that that was the best I would get.

I went over to the knife station and grabbed one of the smallest throwing knives before walking a good ten yards away from one of the dummies. Getting into position, I looked at where I knew one of the easiest kill spots would be – it would be all too easy to pierce the dummy's heart and kill it.

I took aim and the knife was soon soaring through the air. It landed in the dummy's chest, about two inches away from my target but not so far away that it was too noticeable. The people on the platform seemed a bit more ready to pay attention now, so I went back over to the knife station.

I grabbed a slightly bigger knife, this one not made for throwing, and went over to another dummy. I took a deep breath before running forward, letting out a small battle cry and slashing at the dummy, successfully hitting it three times in the chest and once in the stomach, effectively killing it.

The people on the platform, including the Head Gamemaker now, were now giving me their full attention. I knew, though they didn't, that the third and final dummy would be special. Again I grabbed three throwing knives, but this time when I took aim I purposefully didn't go for the kill spots.

I hit the dummy in the left thigh, then the right forearm, and then finally in the right foot. It was enough to make a real person bleed heavily, but not die instantly.

I then ran forward to the medical station and I wasn't looking at the dummy anymore, but a patient. I bent over the dummy and rapped gauze, disinfectant, and other medical supplies around it, and soon enough the barely beeping heart monitor was beeping regularly again.

I stood and looked at the Gamemakers. "Primrose Everdeen," I repeated. "District Twelve." And with a small curtsy I left the room, a smile on my face. I knew that I had done well.

I was proven right a while later. The showed all of our scores on television, and Danvid and I sat on the couch with Effie, Cinna, and Haymitch, waiting for the results. Most of the scores were between one and eight, with eight to ten for the Careers.

I did pay very much attention to many of the scores, but some of them stuck with me. Rue, the girl from District Eleven got a seven. Finch, the girl from District Five, got an eight. And then, finally, it was Danvid's and my turns. My breath got caught in my throat for a moment.

"District Twelve: Danvid Archetta," said Caesar Flickerman. "Score of eight."

We all burst into applause at that. He had gotten a Career score, if a low one.

"District Twelve: Primrose Everdeen," said Caesar Flickerman. "Score of nine."

I got a nine. _I_ got a nine. I got a _nine_.

I grinned and squeezed Danvid's hand. That was a really good score, especially for a non-career from twelve who is only twelve. Danvid grinned back at me, and I completely tuned out Effie and the others for the moment.

In that moment, I had never been more proud of myself or Danvid.

* * *

><p>Nothing really out of the ordinary happened after that until the night before we left for the games. All of the tributes were going to be interviewed by Caesar Flickerman, and therefore the others and I were, yet again, forced to don expensive dresses and attractive tuxedos, plastering smiles onto our faces and trying our hardest to win the Capitol over.<p>

Cinna had apparently decided that keeping up with my wearing of my namesake flower would be best, so the theme of the outfit for the interview was the same as the one for the Tribute Parade with slight changes. This time, I had on a knee length strapless dress that puffed out at the skirt, with a silk pink belt around the waist with a pink primrose. The bodice had an A-Line neckline, and was light pink. My hair was done in my signature two braids, and I wore simple pink flats for shoes.

The line for the interviews was long, with the girl from District One at the front and spanning all the way to Danvid at the back. As I watched each of the tributes go out and talk to Caesar, I made notes as to how each one was dressed and what they said to him about their abilities, as Haymitch had suggested.

One by one the tributes went out, but I only paid special attention to some of them. Finch acted sly and elusive when answering questions, and wore a strapless, light blue dress. She spoke very little, but when she did speak she used a big vocabulary and talked very fast. When asked a question at one point, she answered, "I find that if I can apply myself to the situation present, I will be able to figure it out."

Rue (who I had seen watching Danvid and I during training) wore a gossamer gown complete with wings to awe the crowd, which definitely seemed to work. She wasn't shy in her answering of questions at all, and even admitted one thing that could help her win during the Games. "I'm fast," she told Caesar. "If they can't catch me, they can't kill me. So don't count me out."

By the time that I was called out, I figured that I knew basically what I was doing, and I put on my biggest (and, admittedly, fakest) smile and waved at the crowd before sitting in the chair across from Caesar. "Hello miss Everdeen," he said. "That was quite an entrance that you made during the parade. Care to tell us about it?"

I smiled at him. "Nothing really to tell," I said. "My designer thought that the Primrose flowers on my dresses would put more attention on me, and be cute when paired with my name. I think he was right, yes?"

Caesar grinned back at me. "I believe that he was," he said. "So tell me, Primrose, what was going through your mind when you were reaped?"

His voice was softened, and I knew that mine should too, so I responded using the same tone. "I was scared," I said. "But I think that I can do it; I mean, I'm not all that skilled in hunting, but my sister says that I can be pretty stubborn when I feel like it, and I really want to go home after this."

Caesar nodded. "And speaking of your sister," he said. "I believe that everyone heard her attempt to volunteer for you, but you volunteered before she could. Why is that?"

"Because," I said. "She's the best huntress in the whole District, she's charming, she's even more stubborn than I, and she is absolutely wonderful at everything she does. I love her."

"So why would you not want her to go to the Games in your stead?" asked Caesar.

"Because," I explained. "If she went and didn't come back, District Twelve would lose probably the most amazing girl that it has. But if I went and didn't come back, it only loses a twelve-year-old girl without any true redeeming skills. My mom, the rest of the District… they can live without me. But I don't think they can live without her."

The audience let out a sad, breathy sigh as a whole, and Caesar gave me a sympathetic look. Of course, this whole speech had been prewritten by me and Haymitch, but none of them needed to know that.

"Well that is touching," said Caesar quietly. A buzzer sounded a moment later, however, and Caesar pulled me up from my seat lightly. "Unfortunately, folks, it seems that we must say goodbye to the lovely miss Everdeen for the moment."

The crowd clapped loudly as I left the stage and I gave Danvid an encouraging smile as I made my way back and he made his way out.

"Say hello, everyone, to Danvid Archettah!" called Caesar as Danvid walked onto the stage, a nervous smile on his face as he waved to the audience.

"Hello, mister Archettah," Caesar said when Danvid sat down in the seat across from him. "How are you today?"

"Call me Danvid. I'm good," said Danvid. "And you?"

"I'm fine," said Caesar, chuckling. "Now tell me, Danvid, in all of the differences between the Capitol and your home in District Twelve, what would you say is the biggest?"

Danvid seemed to think for a moment. "Well," he said. "I would have to say the fashions."

"The fashions?" asked Caesar.

"Yeah," said Danvid. "Back at home we have two main colors, brown and white. It seemed kind of like a rainbow when I got here."

Caesar chuckled. "I bet," he said. "So tell me, Danvid. You're thirteen, correct? Do you have a special girl at home?"

Danvid blushed. "No," he said unconvincingly. I frowned. As far as I knew, we hadn't rehearsed in case Caesar asked something like this.

Caesar only grinned wider, if that was possible. "Oh that can't be," he said. "A handsome boy like you? There has to be someone."

"W-Well," stammered Danvid. "There is one girl. But I'm not sure she knew who I was until the Reaping."

"Alright then," said Caesar. "I'll tell you what. You go out and you win this thing, and when you get back she'll have to go out with you."

Danvid looked down into his lap. "I'm not quite sure winning would help though," he said quietly.

"And why is that?" asked Caesar.

"Well," Danvid said. "Because she came here with me."

My eyes popped open in that moment, and I was so busy trying to decipher what I just heard that I missed Danvid coming back off the stage and my head didn't seem to allow me a coherent thought until suddenly my mouth tightened into a thin line and I was marching over to where Danvid was coming back off of the stage.

**Next chapter is the Games! Yay! Please review.**

**-CahillGirl2001**


	3. Prim in the Arena

**Hi random people! Alright, so I have a question for you guys. Should I make Prim and Danvid get together? Because I had this totally AU ending planned at the end. It would be absolutely nothing like in the movie, like most of this book from this point out. Honestly I see no point in rewriting this if I'm gonna make it the exact same. So just review and tell me if I should get them together, go ahead with my AU ending, or even both, because I can make that happen.**

**Guest: I'm glad you think so. I update every week on Friday, by the way.**

**Rachel Kate Doxey: Yeah I just love doing that to my characters apparently. Anyway, I was actually gonna ask you people about that. I addressed it above this, yes?**

**Chapter Three: Prim in the Arena**

I wasn't quite sure what I was feeling in that moment as I marched over to Danvid. "What the heck was that?" I sputtered at him, looking up to see into his face since he was a good four inches taller than me. Why, oh, why hadn't I noticed how much taller than me he was before? "I am going to give you precisely five seconds to explain, and then you're going to wish that you were never born."

"Alright, Prim, listen," said Danvid. "I want meaning to tick you off. I only wanted to help. Haymitch said—"

"Haymitch?" I shrieked. "What exactly did he say that possessed you to think that going out there and doing that would be a good idea? I thought that we were supposed to stick to the plans! You were supposed to get along with Caesar, answer every question the way we rehearsed, and kind of skirt past the ones we didn't!"

"I know!" said Danvid. "I just thought that maybe, just maybe, it would help us get sponsors if they had some sort of juicy story or something. Two fourteen-year-olds from three did it a couple of years ago, and the girl managed to get to the final six before she died!"

I opened my mouth to retort, then closed it again, then opened it again, then closed it again. I probably looked like a fish, but finally I managed to figure out something to say. "Alright," I said. "Sorry I blew up. I would have liked to know about what you had planned before you did it."

"Alright," said Danvid. "I'll tell you next time then."

Neither one of us wanted to say what we were both thinking. There would be no next time. It was impossible. Only one of us would be coming back.

* * *

><p>The entire night was riddled with nightmares, and I definitely didn't catch the sleep that I should have.<p>

I got woken by Cinna literally at the crack of dawn so that I could get ready for the arena. I ate a small breakfast (during which I made sure to drink lots of water), and then went to take a shower. When I got out, Danvid was already up. Cinna dressed me in simple undergarments, put my hair up in two simple braids, and then got me into the jet, where they placed a tracker in me and took me to a place just outside the arena to get ready.

When I was ready, I wore a black tee-shirt with a pair of brown khaki pants and brown hunting boots. I also wore an insulated belt, and Cinna told me that the leather jacket he put on me was insulated, which meant that I was going to have to expect some cold nights. The last thing that he put on me was my Mockingjay pin.

"Thank you," I told him. "For everything." I wrapped my arms around him in a hug.

"No problem, Prim," he told me. "And just so you know, if I were allowed to bet then my money would _definitely _be on you."

I smiled. "Alright," I said. "Thanks again, Cinna. Hopefully I'll see you again after this."

And with that I was on the elevator, being lifted higher and higher until suddenly sunlight blinded my vision for a moment and I had to take a moment to gather my bearings.

When my eyes adjusted again, I looked around me to try and see what kind of terrain they had chosen this year.

Ahead of me was the familiar cone-shaped cornucopia, with bright orange backpacks and weapons of all shapes, sizes, and types littering the ground around it. Healthy green grass stretched around in a big circle around the cornucopia, and then cut off where a huge forest of lush green trees started, not unlike those that we found on the outskirts of Twelve.

Haymitch had told both me and Danvid that we weren't to stop at the Cornucopia, or to participate in the bloodbath. We were both supposed to automatically take off running into the forest. I looked around me. I knew what Haymitch had said, but there was a backpack not three yards from me, and I could probably get it on my way to the forest if I played my cards right.

Claudius Templesmith's voice counted down the seconds until the bloodbath started. I waited until the whistle blew, and then ran just as the others did. I ran straight at the backpack, but the boy from nine got there at the same time as I did. It seemed like he would win, but suddenly he fell forward, dead. The girl from two, Clove, had killed him with a knife and seemed to be going after me now. She threw a knife, which stuck in my backpack as I pulled it up and used it as a shield.

The second that the knife pierced the backpack I ran off toward the woods, hoping by some miracle that I wouldn't be killed before the day was over. Clove, thankfully, seemed to have decided that I wasn't worth the extra energy and had gone back to the fight.

I ran into the forest, willing myself to keep going and not slow down. To slow down at this point would mean death. So I ran deep into the forest, and when I finally got far enough away I climbed up a tree, sitting on one of the branches to look into my pack.

I unzipped the backpack quickly to look inside. I found a rope, an empty water canteen, a sleeping bag, and of course the knife that Clove threw at me. She probably didn't register it at the time, but she had given me a weapon that I was actually able to use semi-well.

I sighed. Now I needed to find water. I wouldn't be able to live very long if I didn't get some soon. I looked around me; to come down from the tree could and would be very dangerous. My eyes sought out a nearby branch and I knew what to do. Because I was so tiny, I might be able to hop across thicker branches and find water that way.

I found a branch on a tree nearby that I thought might be thick enough to hold my weight and, closing my eyes, I jumped.

I landed roughly on the branch, but luckily I didn't fall down. Breathing a sigh of relief, I took my stance and jumped yet again. And then again, and again, and again. Eventually I managed to come across a small stream. I picked up some water from there and put it in my canteen. I then grabbed the knife from my backpack and killed a fish from the stream. I winced as the knife went straight through the tiny creature, but I knew that I had no choice. I couldn't just starve.

I cooked the fish in a small fire for as long as I dared, but it wasn't near done cooking when I took it off the fire. I got it off of the fire quickly and then scampered up the trees again before beginning to eat. Before long, it was dark.

Just like usual, the Capitol anthem began playing and pictures appeared in the sky. I began counting how many faces I saw. There were twelve in all, meaning that there were twelve left including me. It was barely ten minutes after the song went off, however, that I heard a piercing scream and another canon sounded. _Eleven_, I thought.

Sleep that night did not come easy.

* * *

><p>The next morning I woke up to someone shaking me roughly. I opened my eyes blearily, but they snapped open wide when they saw who was waking me.<p>

The little girl from Eleven, Rue, was leaning over me. "Get up quick!" she said. I was confused for a moment, but then I looked behind me and saw that there was a forest fire not far behind. I turned back to Rue and we both got up before beginning to jump from tree to tree.

It took nearly thirty minutes to get far enough away from the fire, and I had to stop halfway through because I had gotten to close to the fire and my shin had gotten burned badly. When Rue and I finally stopped running, we both collapsed on a thick branch out of exhaustion. It wasn't until I looked back at her that I saw.

The fire, apparently, had managed to burn Rue, who had been just a few steps behind me, as well. From her shoulder to halfway down to her elbow was completely red, the fire having burned off the skin that was there. That entire arm was shaking, and I knew that Rue wouldn't be able to do anything with it for a little bit unless we could find some sort of herb that could be used to heal the burn. My leg was shaking badly as well, and I didn't know if I would be able to climb either.

I stepped over to her slowly. "A-Are you okay?" I asked apprehensively. After all, I still didn't know if she would decide spontaneously to kill me and increase her chances of getting out of here alive.

"I'm okay," she said in a small voice. She moved her arm slightly, but hissed in pain when she did and then held still again. "Scratch that," she said. "I need burn cream. It's gonna be next to impossible to climb like this."

"I know the feeling," I said, wincing. I looked up at the sky. "Haymitch!" I said, not quite yelling but not whispering either. "Help us!"

It was then that I heard the voices. My ears pricked. Then my eyes widened. "Rue," I whispered. "We have to climb, and we have to do it right now. I'll help you."

I helped her to stand with her good arm, and we walked over to another tree. I climbed slightly ahead of her and began to help her to climb. We got to the top just as the people that I had heard came charging through the forest, laughing loudly and talking. The only people were arrogant and/or stupid enough to do that and not expect consequences were…

"Careers," I told Rue, whispering. She nodded and we huddle together on one branch, very high in the tree so that we were almost at the very top. Rue put a finger to her lips and I nodded in understanding. I knew as well as she did that if we talked we were as good as dead.

"Who are we going for next?" asked one girl, Glimmer.

"I say the girl from Twelve," said the boy from one, Marvel. "She got a pretty good score in training."

"So did that girl from Eleven," pointed out the girl from one, looking bored and polishing her knife. "She got a seven. That's almost a Career score."

"I say we go for Twelve," said the boy from Two, Cato. The way that he said it made it clear that he wasn't only suggesting. "That's the reason we kept Lover Boy around, wasn't it?"

It was then that I realized that there was another person I had overlooked. Danvid was trailing behind all of them slowly, his face forlorn, but when Cato looked at him, he put a fake smile on his face. Rue and I looked at each other with wide eyes.

Clove turned to Danvid then. "Why haven't we got her yet?" she asked, brandishing her knife at him. "You said she had passed through here not too long ago."

"She did," he said. He held up a small green hairband. "This is hers. She was wearing it the night before we came here, and as far as I've seen the rest of you girl's hair is held up with a black hairband anyway." His voice was shaking, but he sounded confident in his words.

I reached up to touch my hair and nearly cursed. He was right. Half of my hair was now falling freely out of its holder, while the other was barely still held up. It was obvious that I had dropped one hair tie while I was running. Rue's eyes widened at me and I quickly took down the still pinned up part of my hair and then put all of it back up in one braid that went half-way down my back.

Then disaster struck. As I went to put my hands back down, away from my head, my hand hit a branch, which rained a couple of leaves down on the Careers and Danvid. Instantly, every pair of eyes landed on me and Rue. Sadistic grins slid across the Career's faces, and Danvid looked horrified.

"Well look what we have here," said Clove, her voice slow and sadistic.

"Got you now, Flower," sneered Cato, using the nickname that everyone had begun to use on me since the parade. I was the Flower of the Hunger Games, according to Caesar Flickerman.

Cato began to climb up the tree but only got about halfway to where me and Rue were before he fell back down again.

"I'll do it myself," said Glimmer, grabbing her bow. But see, the thing was, I had seen Katniss use her bow before and I knew just by looking at the way that Glimmer was holding it that she had never used one before, and if she had then she definitely wasn't as good at it as Katniss was.

Glimmer clumsily lifted the bow and arrow aimed (not very well) at Rue and I, and then let go. I didn't even bother to duck, seeing as I knew before she even shot that she had shot about a foot too high. "Is that all you got?" I taunted. Maybe I could taunt them into throwing all their weapons at me.

"Just leave them," said Danvid, startling me. I had almost forgotten he was there. "They have to come down eventually. We'll get them then."

I mentally slapped him at this point. He had ruined my perfectly good plan!

"You better be right about that," Cato threatened before turning to the others. "Alright. Let's make camp for the night."

I turned to Rue. She knew as well as I did that we wouldn't be able to move until morning at the very least, and that was only if we could somehow jump to the other tree without them hearing us. I sighed. This would be a long night.

**Okay guys! I literally just got done with this chapter. Unfortunately I got so busy this week with school that I had next to no chance to write, so most of this chapter was actually written last week. I don't really have much to say anymore though, so I suppose that this chapter is done for. Please review, y'all!**

**-CahillGirl2001**


	4. Prim in the Confessions

**Chapter Four: Prim in the Confessions**

**Hey people! I'd like to just tell all of you that I am going to try to continue to update regularly, every Friday, though I don't really know for sure if I can seeing as it is so close to the end of the year tests (only two months!) and school has begun to pile up. Hopefully I can keep with my schedule, but if I'm late every once in a while that's probably why.**

**Second, I wanted to let y'all know that I might be changing my Pen name soon. The new name will most likely be Sara Vincent. The reason for this is that I have been doing this same Pen name since I started this profile a year ago and I want a new one now. Hopefully y'all won't get too confused.**

**Third, and final, I want y'all to know that from this point out the story will be almost completely AU. Twists, turns, and all kinds of drama will be going on, and, oh yeah, the appearance of Foxface will happen in this chapter, so yay for that. **

**Now, I don't really have anything else to say except for to reply to reviews, and then I'm done.**

**Rachel Kate Doxey: Thanks! I'm glad you think so, because as I said I don't really like the idea of making this story the same as the movie. That makes it less fun to read, I think. Also, I probably will make Danvid and Prim get together; it just might take a few chapters.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognize.**

That night went by very slowly, with Rue and I both trying to nurse our wounds as well as keep an eye on the Careers. At some point after dark a parachute came down bearing burn cream, which Rue and I shared, and a note from Haymitch telling us how to use it. We then decided to take turns sleeping, and I took the first half of the night while she took the second, when I woke her at three in the morning.

The little sleep that I got was uninterrupted and, thankfully, slightly refreshing. I woke back up at about seven to Rue shaking me, at which point the sun was already up. She quietly pointed up above us, and I followed her gaze until I saw a Tracker Jacker nest on a branch about two feet above us. _Cut the branch_, she was trying to tell me.

I nodded, showing her that I had gotten the message, and slowly got up. I reached up and, after making sure that the Careers were still sleeping, began to saw at the branch with my knife. The wasp-like creatures began to notice me and began to fly round Rue and I, obviously trying to find out if we were friend or foe. One wasp, then two, and even three stung me as well as Rue, making us cry out, before the branch fell to the ground.

It was instant pandemonium.

Screams ripped through the air as the Careers realized what was going on. Danvid was the first to jump off of the ground and start running, being the smallest and most agile. He was closely followed by Marvel, Cato, and Clove, but Glimmer couldn't get away and eventually fell.

Rue and I quickly jumped to the next tree and then the next and the next, but my vision was blurry and I saw a rainbow of colors all around me. I heard a loud ringing in my ears, and my eyes were getting heavy. My breathing came in spurts, and though I couldn't hear myself I was pretty sure that I was making quite a racket with my breaths. I briefly wondered if this was what it was like to be drunk before my world went black.

I woke up a while later, feeling something sticky on my arm and neck. It took me a moment to realize where I was before I sat up, quickly surveying my surroundings.

I was lying on the ground, beneath a sort of rock-like structure that curved slightly above my head, making a sort of make-shift tent-like structure. It was probably mid-afternoon, around the time that I fell asleep, but I was pretty sure that I had been outside for more than a few minutes. My eyes widened even more considerably when I realized that Rue was not within my line of vision anymore.

"Rue?" I whisper-yelled. "Rue, where are you?"

I scrambled to my feet, picking up my knife –which had, thank goodness, been put next to me on the ground– and looked around for a moment more. It wasn't until I turned to look to the left that I felt the sticky leaf that I had noticed when I woke up move.

I sighed, relieved, as I realized what must have happened. "Rue," I called quietly. "I know you're here somewhere."

Leaves crackled on the ground as my ally made her way over to me from behind a tree. A small smile grew on my face. "Why were you hiding?" I asked. "We're allies!"

"Sorry," she said meekly. "I just wanted to make sure that when you woke up you weren't delirious and accidentally stabbed me. But I put some medicine leaves on your tings as well as mine. You've been out for three days. The girl from Ten died. I wasn't asleep because I only got stung once so my symptoms were only mild. You got stung a lot though; I almost thought that you were done for."

"Good thing I wasn't then," I said, my smile getting a bit bigger. "I guess we should go now then?"

Rue nodded. "Back to the trees," she said.

Pulling off my leaves, I made my way to the nearest tree and Rue and I began to climb. We climbed all the way to the top, well hidden in the leaves from anyone who might be wandering under us, before I heard my stomach growl. "We need to hunt," I said. "Either that or we need to find someone to steal from."

"Oh yeah!" said Rue. "While you were sleeping, I caught sight of the Careers. They've stacked their entire supply of food, water, and weapons in a big pile near the lake, and they leave sometime around noon every day to hunt, as well as at night. They usually leave the fourteen-year-old from Three there to watch. He's really small, but not as small as us and while you were asleep I didn't want to risk going in alone. But now…"

"But now the offer seems just too tempting to pass up," I finished. "Alright; I have a plan."

The rest of that day was spent with me outlining my plan to her, and after a small meal of squirrel we went to bed, our plan ready for execution the next day.

* * *

><p>"Are you ready?" I asked Rue the next day as we were about to part.<p>

She nodded. "Yup," she said. "And remember, we're going to need to be able to contact each other when we're done."

"What do you propose?"

"Here," she said. She then looked up into the trees and hummed four soft notes. Instantly the notes were picked up by the many Mockingjays that were flying around in the trees everywhere. She looked back at me. "Now you try."

I pursed my lips together and whistled the same four notes, allowing them to carry through the birds, before looking back at her. "Okay," I said. "I'll see you in a few minutes then." And with that I turned and ran toward the lake.

When I got there, just like we had planned, the Careers weren't there and the only protection the supplies had was the boy from Three. The day before, Rue had told me about the small bumps of dirt in the ground, so I had already warned her about the mine bombs.

I saw her make her way to the edge of the forest on the other side of the pile, so that I was in front of Three and she was behind, but before I could give her the signal to start our plan I saw someone make their way from about sixteen yards beside me, run up to the pile, jump over the small dunes in the dirt, and grab some food before running off again… right in the direction of Rue.

Abandoning the plan altogether, I quickly scrambled up the tree before jumping into the next one, and the next, and the next, hoping to get to Rue in time.

By the time that I got to the other side, the person that I had seen earlier was standing in front of Rue, talking to her. Confusion clouded my features for a moment before I climbed down from the tree, making my way over to Rue and the other person, who I figured out was a girl by the long hair (which I had now seen was orange-red in color).

I came to a stop right next to them. "Five?" I asked as I realized who it was.

"It's Finch, actually," she said. She turned back to Rue. "Allies?" she asked.

Rue nodded once before turning back to me. "Prim," she said. "This is Finch. She says that she can help us get food, and in return we can help her by being her 'eyes in the sky,' so to speak."

I nodded. "Alright," I said. "Where to from here then? We never got the food from the lake, and the Careers are probably back by now."

"Don't worry about that," said Finch, smirking. "I nicked some while I was there." She brought three apples out of her backpack. "And that's just a snack," she continued. "They go back out to hunt again around ten, and then I'll go back and get some more for dinner."

"Okay then," said Rue. "Then maybe we should go back to wherever you usually stay, Finch. Obviously you know how to stay out of sight, and I don't think it would be very easy for you to climb up to where we stay."

So we walked back to a small cave in the center of the arena, where Finch led us inside before rolling a big boulder most of the way in front of the entrance, only leaving enough room for a bare bit of light to be let in. The way that it was structured, I might even have been able to start a small fire every once in a while being that the smoke would only be coming out in small streams rather than in one great pillar that the Careers would see.

"So this is how you do it," I whispered, noticing how the cave echoed loudly.

"Yup," said Finch. "Home sweet home. It's humble, but it keeps me safe and it's the one place that I feel relatively safe in this God blessed arena. Plus, I found an emergency exit in case the Careers find me."

She pointed to a secluded corner, and I saw a small hole under the edge of the cave, just small enough to crawl through but not big enough to give any real light to the place.

"Good," said Rue. "That's probably a good thing to have."

"It has been before," said Finch. "I actually had to sneak out of it once when that guy from your district, Rue, came in looking for a place to stay during the night. I had to find a different place, but he cleared off the next day and hasn't come back since, so I think that we're safe."

"You're safe anyway," said Rue, smiling. "Well, not while you were on your own, but I knew Thresh when we were in Eleven. He's a family friend. He always used to play with me and the other kids. He looks really mean, and could snap your neck easily, but he would never hurt me or anyone else he actually cared about."

I giggled lightly. "Yeah," I whispered. "It's just like my sister's friend, Gale. He's real cold to people that don't know him, and he is really strong, but he would never hurt Katniss or me. He' a real sweetheart when you get to know him like we do. My sister likes him, but I don't think she knows it yet, and I know for a fact that he likes her." I looked up. "Nice to have that secret out, isn't it guys?" I asked playfully.

"I think everyone knows someone like that," said Finch. "My older brother, Abie, looks mean and acts mean, but really it's just 'cuz he's sad and confused. See, our parents died when I was seven and he was nine, so he had to raise me all by himself. For a while we were on the streets, and I had to learn to scavenge for food in the dumpsters while he got odd jobs with neighbors. It sucked, but we got by until we were old enough to take out tesserae."

We grew silent. Nobody knew what to say to that, and nobody tried. I was sure that the screens had turned to us during that moment, and while I knew that Finch might get more sponsors due to sympathy to her, I didn't think that she had said that for that reason, nor that she was lying.

Nobody talked for a long time, and around ten o' clock Finch went back out for food, coming back a few minutes later carrying three sandwiches and three water bottles. After that, we all went to bed, but I didn't sleep soundly. I kept thinking of Katniss, of Gale, of Danvid, and of what would happen if I did manage to get out of here with my life.

**So the ending's a bit gloomy, but I figured I would give you a bit of a backstory on them. Plus, that kind of explains, to an extent, the relationship between Thresh and Rue, and of course why Finch is as good as she is at scavenging and such.**

**Anyway, I hope that you all review soon, and for now I think that I'll call it a night. Till next time.**

**-CahillGirl2001**


	5. Prim in the Feast

**Hey peoples! Yay, I got this chapter done a bit faster this time. I don't really have much to say as of now, so I guess I'll just get on to the replies to the reviews. **

**Rachel Kate Doxey: Yeah for whatever reason I'm really weird about backstories. I'm glad you liked the last chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. If I did I certainly wouldn't be sitting her wishing I could have a Pepsi but not being able to afford one.**

**Chapter Five: Prim in the Feast**

I woke up the next morning fairly early, and Finch came in with food not too long after, apparently having stolen more from the Careers. Rue, Finch, and I were just digging in when the voice came over the loud speaker. We all looked up at the top of the cave as the voice of Claudius Templesmith talked to us.

"Attention tributes," he said. "The regulations requiring a single victor have been suspended. From now on, up to three victors may be crowned if two of them originate from the same district. This will be the only announcement."

It took a moment for the words to process in our minds but when they did, we all three stood up. "We have to find the boys," Rue and I said together, our voices elated and happy.

Finch nodded. "Alright guys," she said. "I'm gonna help you. I'm gonna help both of you find the boys, and then I'll leave you. My district partner is dead, so I have nobody to try and find, but I won't leave you guys alone."

I was about to say something else when suddenly a cannon boomed. Finch nodded, not looking the least bit surprised. "That'll be the boy from Three," she said. "Were Twelve still with them, I would say that he probably would come next, but he isn't, so we're still good."

"Wait," I said. "What do you mean he isn't with them? I thought he was?"

"Nope," said Finch. "Yesterday, before I met you two, I got to the lake just before the Careers cleared out and he wasn't with them. And he wasn't with Three, so I assume that he's gone. We just have to find him."

My eyes widened. Why had he left them? Had they tried to kill him after the Tracker Jacker incident? For a moment I thought that they might have succeeded, but he hadn't appeared in the sky so my logic ruled that out almost immediately.

"Alright then," I said. "Who all is left?"

"Cato, Clove, and Marvel," said Rue. "Plus Thresh and I, both of you from Twelve, and Finch."

"So we only have three Careers before we all have to fight each other?" I asked, my voice shaking slightly.

Neither of them answered, but the fact that they didn't spoke the words that I already knew, loud and clear. "Okay," Finch said after a few moments. "Let's get going. I think we should find Thresh first, since we at least have some sort of clue where he is."

"We do?" asked Rue.

Finch smiled. "I stole food from him a while back, after he found this place. I followed him to his hideout. He was down in the valley, near the lake but far enough away so the Careers couldn't see him."

"Then let's go," I said, standing up. I grabbed my backpack as well as my knife before rolling the boulder out of the way of the doorway and walking outside, closely followed by the others.

We walked around for a few hours, trying to get closer to where Finch had last seen Thresh, and it wasn't long before we all got hungry. "Well we can't go steal from the Careers," said Finch when I complained. "If I was right about those cannons earlier, they're just down to Cato, Clove, and Marvel now. That means that it'll be one of them guarding the food instead of the scrawny kid from three. Him, we could have taken if we were caught, but I probably couldn't fight Clove, with her knives, let alone Cato or Marvel."

After that we trudged on, and as night fell my stomach was screaming at me to feed it, but we had all agreed that it would be best not to try to hunt since Cato and/or Clove and/or Marvel could be hunting for _us_. None of us were surprised when, when the anthem played, we were proved right about who had died. We all climbed up into a tree eventually, falling asleep hungry, our water supply dwindling as well.

The next day we began our trek again, fatigued, and we all nearly screamed with joy when a squirrel passed by us a few yards ahead. Quickly I threw my knife at it, and it impaled the creature, killing it instantly. We made a small fire and kept it up for about five minutes, not long enough that it would cook the meat all the way through, but enough that it would cook out all of the disease that might be in it.

The squirrel wasn't anywhere near filling, but it was enough that we weren't as hungry as before. We began to walk again a few minutes later with Finch shushing us every so often so that she could try and hear if someone was coming toward us.

She suddenly stopped a few minutes before dark, pushing us behind her right as Cato and Clove stepped out from behind a couple of trees. "Well what do we have here," said Clove, her sadistic smile still intact as she twirled her knife in her hand. "Three weaklings from Five, Eleven, and Twelve, already lined up like pigs for slaughter."

"Where's Lover Boy?" asked Cato. "He ran off after you dropped that nest on us before I could even get a decent stab in with my sword."

"You couldn't even catch a thirteen-year-old?" sneered Finch. "Wow, you Careers really are useless this year."

Cato growled and leaped forward, but before he could slice at her, she suddenly brought out a knife that was a fair bit bigger than mine, meaning that it was not for throwing, and blocked his sword not even four inches from her face. He stopped in surprise, and she used the second that he did so to her advantage. Using every bit of strength she had, she pushed the sword away, sending Cato backwards a couple of feet.

It took him a moment to get back up, and in that time Finch, Rue, and I started to fight back. Finch ran toward Cato while I ran to Clove. We began to tussle, and she had almost got me to the ground when Rue dropped down from a tree branch right above us, knocking Clove down to the ground, lying on her belly, with Rue on top of her.

I poised the knife above her back, but before I could bring it down I heard a whimper from behind me. Turning around, I saw Cato holding a knife to Finch's neck, his face bloody and a large cut on his chest. "Back off," he said. "If she dies, I kill your little friend here." He pressed the knife against her neck more and she whimpered as a small trail of blood ran down her throat.

Slowly, I stood up, my knife still clutched in my hand as I backed away. Rue did the same, and soon Clove was back on her feet. She and Cato began to walk slowly toward the trees they had come out of earlier, Finch still in Cato's grasp. As they got back to their tree, suddenly Cato dragged his sword across Finch's throat, making her and Rue and I cry out, before he and Clove ran away.

"Finch!" I said, running forward before falling to my knees in front of her as she lay on the ground, her breathing labored. "It's okay Finch," I said. Tears leaked from my eyes. "You'll be okay. You're okay."

"No I'm not," she said weakly. "Guys, I'm dying. You have to go. You have to find the boys. Stay together until you do. One of you at least has to get out of here. You need to get out of here, and you have to live a full life, and you have to make a difference. Being a Victor, you have the means to do so. Don't waste them."

I was sobbing by this point, and so was Rue. I took Finch's hand in mine. "I love you Finch," I said.

Rue nodded. "I do to," she said.

Finch smiled. "I know," she said. "I love you guys too." She looked over at me. "Will you sing for me?" she asked as a single tear made its way down her face. I nodded, swallowing hard before I started to sing.

"_Deep in the meadow, under the willow,  
>A bed of grass, a soft green pillow<br>Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes  
>And when you wake, the sun will rise<em>

Rue began to take up the song with me as Finch closed her eyes, a serene look on her face.

_"Here it's safe, and here it's warm  
>Here the daisies guard you from every harm<br>Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true  
>Here is the place where I love you.<em>

_"Deep in the meadow, hidden far away  
>A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray<br>Forget your woes and let your troubles lay  
>And when again it's morning, they'll wash away<em>

_"Here it's safe, and here it's warm  
>Here the daisies guard you from every harm<br>Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true  
>Here is the place where I love you."<em>

A canon fired as we finished the last verse, and for a moment my vision went blurry as I tried to get a handle on what had just happened. Alright, first we had been walking through the forest, when two out of three Careers appeared and fought us, and then Finch was injured, and then she died.

I replayed this series of events in my head over and over, trying to make sense of it, and after about five minutes my vision cleared and I was brought back into the harsh reality that is the Hunger Games. I stood up and looked around. She deserved a proper burial. She would have wanted one.

I spotted some pretty white flowers along the edge of the small clearing that I was standing in and walked over to them. One by one I grabbed them, brought them over to her, and then laid them down around her body, burying her in the beautiful flowers. When I was done, she almost looked like she was asleep if you didn't look at the blood on her neck.

I looked over at Rue, who was looking down at her as well. "Rue," I said quietly. "We have to go. We have to find the boys."

She nodded, tears still shining in her eyes. "Okay," she said. "Let's go."

We grabbed out things and took to the trees again. Now that Finch was gone, if we wanted to survive we needed to stay off the ground. We began to hop again from tree to tree, following the path that Finch had thought Thresh would be found on.

Eventually it got dark and we had to settle down again for the night. As we laid down, the sky lit up once again with the faces of the tributes that had fallen that day. Foxface was the only one in the sky, and when her face flashed it sent me and Rue into a whole new round of sobs. We both fell asleep crying that night, our arms wrapped around each other as we tried to find comfort.

We woke up almost before the sun was up the next morning and sleepily began hopping from tree to tree again. My knife stayed tight in my right hand, ready at any moment for an attack. Rue and I were both hungry, but we hadn't come across any animals yet and couldn't hunt with everyone else out there either.

It was around noon when suddenly the speakers came on again. "Attention tributes, attention," said Templesmith. "Commencing at sunrise, there will be a feast tomorrow at the Cornucopia. This will be no ordinary occasion. Each of you need something desperately, and we plan to be _generous _hosts."

As the announcement ended, Rue and I looked at each other with wide eyes. We needed food badly, and besides that fact, if we went then most likely the boys would be there and we could find them easier that way. "We have to go," I said.

She nodded. "Me and you have taken Clove before," she said. "And I'd be willing to bet that Cato won't be in the battle. He probably needs medicine, with that nasty cut in the chest that Finch gave him. They wouldn't need food or shelter, they have both of those down by the lake. The only thing they could need is medicine."

"Yeah," I agreed. "So just stay out of Clove's line of sight then. If you take her by surprise like you did then, maybe we can take her again."

Our plan was finished and perfected around the time it got dark, and we went to bed that night with a sense of hope.

It was noon. I was crouching down on my hands and knees, hiding in a bush, waiting for an opening to get out. On the table under the cornucopia were five packages, one labeled with a two, two labeled with eleven, and two more labeled with twelve.

The packages were all different sizes and shapes, and one of the eleven and twelve packages were blue while the other eleven and twelve were red. It was obvious that the blue was meant for boys and the red for girls. The 'two' package was orange.

I looked about fifteen yards to my right, where Rue was hidden in her own set of pushes. _"Remember the plan,"_ I mouthed.

She nodded and, checking one more time that nobody would come out of the woods at the same time as me, I ran out. I made my way to the package and grabbed it, but before I could make my way completely back suddenly something collided with my head, badly scraping it but not impaling it, and I fell back onto the ground.

Instantly I sat back up and dodged to the side of the now-charging form of Clove. She whipped back around before charging again, and before I could do anything she had me pinned on the ground, her knife held to my throat.

"It's payback time for that nasty little cut your friend gave Cato," she purred. "Where's your friend, Rue? She run off scared when your friend died? Was she as much of a coward as your friend was? As you are? Well now, you're gonna die a coward. But don't worry; I'll make it nice and quick. You wanna say goodbye before you go?"

I looked over her shoulder and saw Rue not too far behind. I smirked. "Goodbye," I said.

Rue took her cue and ran forward, jumping on Clove's back and knocking her over. I took the opportunity to roll out from under her before joining Rue on Clove's back.

Unfortunately, Clove didn't seem near as surprised as last time, and had knocked Rue off of her back in a matter of moments. A sickening crack told me that she had hit the side of the Cornucopia, but with one quick glance at her I could tell that it wasn't a fatal wound. It had knocked her out though, so I was now on my own.

I turned back to the fight and began to wrestle with Clove. Within five minutes, she had me on my back on the floor, her knife at my throat as I tried to hold her arm away. Suddenly I heard a growl from behind me, and apparently so had Clove because she suddenly looked up in horror at whatever was behind me.

What happened next happened so fast that I barely comprehended it. A dark shape came up and had picked Clove up by the neck, lifting her off of me, before I could even understand what was happening. When things finally calmed down enough for my brain to comprehend, I looked over at where the shape had gone.

Thresh was holding Clove by the neck, her back against the side of the Cornucopia, Rue not too far away from them and still unconscious. "Did you hurt them?" yelled Thresh. Clove was screaming Cato's name, not responding to Thresh's question. "Did you hurt Rue and that little girl?!"

Clove continued to scream, and then suddenly Thresh pounded her head against the Cornucopia and with one sickening crack her neck was broken. He dropped her to the ground and looked over at me, breathing heavily. He looked down at Rue. "Is she dead?" he asked, a small crack in his voice.

I shook my head. "She hit her head," I said.

"Alright," he said. He leaned down and picked her up bridal style. "Follow me then."

Definitely confused now, I followed him. He jogged back into the forest, me running as fast as I could behind him to keep up.

**Yay! Alright so this chapter was finished on Tuesday and is actually not very far behind the size of the first two chapters. If I can keep this up, I should be able to make chapters like this every week. I don't know if that will happen, but whatever.**

**Alright so I know that I just kind of brought Finch into the story right before I killed her off, but it needed to be done if I wanted to get the girls to find Thresh. Next chapter will probably be the last chapter of the Games, which also means that they will find Danvid next chapter as well. **

**Hopefully you all liked this chapter. I can't wait to read your reviews. Until next Friday,**

**-CahillGirl2001**


	6. Prim in the Cave

**Hi people! Geez it seems like I say something like that every chapter… **

**Alright so this chapter is gonna be the last chapter before the Capitol, and you also meet Danvid again in this chapter. Personally, I think that this chapter is awesome.**

**Beware, you will most likely either laugh, cry, or show some other strong emotion at some point. This was a very emotional chapter for me to write, and it really kills me that I have to kill off all of my favorite characters whenever I decide to write anything to do with Hunger Games. **

**Disclaimer: Who said I owned the Hunger Games? They were lying to you.**

**Chapter Six: Prim in the Cave**

I followed Thresh and the still-unconscious Rue deep into the forest until we got to the lake, making sure to steer clear of the Career camp, and eventually we made it to a small cave not unlike Finch's there. I had to swallow to hold back the sob when I saw it, but I was soon distracted.

As I watched, a small figure came out of the cave, running toward us. "Thresh!" they called. "Did you find the—"

It was at that point that I recognized the figure and he saw Rue and I. "Danvid!" I yelled out happily. I ran forward and jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly. The impact nearly knocked us both over, but he steadied us just in time.

"Oh my god Prim!" he said elatedly he put me down and his hands came up to rest on either side of my face. "I didn't think I would ever see you again."

I laughed slightly. "Neither did I," I said softly. My eyes found his and I found myself blushing under his gaze. I nearly jumped before I heard a noise from behind us.

"Alright lovebirds," said Thresh. "You'll have time for flirting later. We need to get inside and help Rue."

Danvid and I both turned red and followed Thresh into the cave. Thresh laid Rue down on the ground inside before turning to roll a large boulder in front of the entryway, and the familiar act, so much like Finch, almost made my cry again.

"So how did you end up here with Thresh, Danvid?" I asked as I checked Rue for permanent injuries.

"Oh," said Danvid. "I came in here for shelter a couple of days ago thinking that it was empty and, after I explained to Thresh that we needed to find you and Rue and that you were allies, he said I could stay until either we found one or both of you or until it came down to the final four."

"But what are we gonna do now?" I asked. "Let's face it; we can't stay here very long. Not all of us, at least. Only three Victors can happen, and that's only because of the new revision. So who stays and who goes? Do we split up between districts? And if we do and by some miracle one of us kills Marvel and Cato, how are we supposed to kill each other in order to win?"

"That's simple," said Thresh. "I'm gonna wait until Rue wakes up, and then I'm gonna say goodbye to her. At which point I'm going to go into the Career camp and kill Marvel while Cato is out hunting. After that, I am going to wait until Cato gets back and ambush him, and then we'll fight. I can probably win that battle, and even if I don't then I'll be sure to take him out with me. Then only you three will be left and you can all three go home. If I do win the battle with Cato, then I'll just go over to that bush of Nightlock that's not too far from here and eat some. Either way, you three are going home, and I'm not."

"Rue won't let you do that," I said. I stepped away from her, deeming her fine. "Give her a few minutes and she'll be awake, and then she can tell you. She won't let you do that for her. And I sure as heck won't either."

"You have no choice," he said. "I told that little girl's parents and siblings that if it came down to it I wouldn't allow her to die and me to live. That if it came down to it, she would make it home before I would. And as for you two, I can't go home knowing that you died, that two families are now missing their twelve and thirteen year olds, all because I was too selfish to save them. You have no choice, and neither does she."

"I have no choice in what?" asked now-awake Rue, slowly opening her eyes and sitting up.

"I'm going to go kill Marvel in a little bit when Cato goes out hunting," said Thresh. "And then I'm gonna ambush Cato when he gets back. If he wins the fight then he's gonna die with me, and if I win then I'm going to go over to the bush of Nightlock and eat some. That way you guys can go home."

"No!" said Rue, eyes now wide open. "You can't do that! The district needs you!"

"No, Rue," said Thresh. "They need you. You're the girl that everybody likes. If you died, there would be whole riots in the freaking district. You're the one that tells everyone when it's time to go home, the one that smiles at everybody and makes everything brighter. I'm just one of the field workers. They have tens of dozens of me, but there's only one you. And besides, if I lived, which one of these two would you like to never go home? I know for a fact that Danvid is gonna grow up and be a strong and good man, and even if I don't know much about Prim yet, I know for a fact that she has been one of the things that has helped you here, and I am not gonna let her die when she could be the reason that you're alive right now."

Prim got up and ran over to Thresh, hugging him tightly. "I don't want any of you to go," she said. "I want you all to live. I hate these stupid Games. Why did we have to come here?"

"I know Rue," he said, bending down slightly to hug her back. "But it's gonna be okay. Remember that place my grandma told you about? The place where there are no bad things? I'm gonna go up there, and I'm gonna see my mom and dad again, just like I always said I would one day. God's gonna let me up there, I just know it, Rue."

"You're like a big brother I never had," she said. "I love you just like I love James, Pepper, Cinnamon, and little Ivy."

"And you're like another little sister," Thresh answered. "Just like Marie."

They sat there like that for a few, with Rue crying and Thresh holding her, and I got a sense like when I had a nightmare at home and Katniss was there for me. I turned away, feeling like I was intruding on a private family moment, and went back to sit next to the wall a bit farther into the cave. Danvid followed and sat beside me.

"How did you manage to find Rue?" he asked.

I smiled. "She saved me from the forest fire," I whispered. "I was sleeping when it started, and she woke me up. She got burned because she didn't run instead of helping me. We're both fine now, of course, but still. When we finally stopped running, we became allies. That was right before the Careers found us…"

Danvid looked down shamefully. "I'm sorry about that," he said.

I was confused. "I'm the one that dropped the Tracker Jacker nest on you," I said.

"Yeah," he answered. "But if I hadn't been with the Careers in the first place then it wouldn't matter."

"It's okay," I said. "I was a little mad at first, but I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't have been with them if you didn't have to."

A relieved smile crossed his face. "Thank you," he said. He reached over and put his arms around me, hugging me tightly to him. I hugged him back and laid my head on his shoulder. We sprang apart when we heard a Thresh speak. "Okay guys," he said. "I have to go."

Danvid rushed over to him. "Thank you," he said. "For everything. I would probably be dead now if it weren't for you."

"No problem kid," he said. He smiled. "Just do me a favor and when you get back, do what I didn't have the courage to."

I was confused. What did he mean? But before I could ask, Thresh looked over at me.

"Thanks for keeping Rue safe," he said.

I nodded. "It was my pleasure."

And with that, he was gone.

Not too long after he left we all heard a cannon, and I prayed silently to every God that I knew of that it was that of Marvel and not Thresh.

Rue, Danvid, and I cuddled together in the front of the cave, waiting to see if another cannon would follow and keeping an eye on the outside sky. But the next sound that we heard was most definitely notthat of cannons.

Barking filled the air and I heard a scream, and then the anthem started and the faces of Marvel and Thresh filled the sky. Rue put her head on my shoulder as she saw that and cried; Cato was still out there and Thresh was dead.

It took a moment for my brain to put two and two together. "Oh my god," I said. Danvid and Rue looked at me. "They're mutts," I whispered, dread eating at my stomach.

Those words were all it took for Danvid, Rue, and I to rush out of the cave and back into the woods, knowing that the Gamemakers would send the mutts to us if we stayed there. "To the trees," I said. "We have to get to the trees or we'll all be eaten alive!"

But just as I said that, another figure came out of the forest and looked at us.

For a moment I was relieved when I realized that it was Cato and not the mutts. And then I realized that it was _Cato_.

He was covered in dried blood, his whole face red with it and even some on his lips and in his mouth. His eyes were half-crazed and he held his sword in his hand. He looked like he had just been to heck and back, and in retrospect I guess he kind of had. Danvid made his way in front of Rue and I, standing very much like Finch had when—

My mouth went into a thin line and I stepped in front of Danvid.

"Well look what we have here," Cato sneered.

I readied my knife, readying to throw it. "The mutts will be here in a second," I said. Luckily the shake in my voice was barely audible.

"And by that point you guys will be dead," he rebutted. Then he charged. Danvid, Rue, and I ran. Jumping on a rock, we made our way to the top of the cave and right as Cato did and the mutts made their way from the woods. I lunged at Cato, trying to stab him, but missed. He dodged past me right in time, but luckily Danvid and Rue were on the other side.

Danvid grabbed Cato's arm as he neared the edge, but he wasn't strong enough to knock him off as had been intended. Instead, Cato pushed him toward me and picked Rue up by her waist with one arm, holding his sword to her neck with the other. I froze at the apparent familiarity in the way he was doing so.

"Well look at this," he said. "Isn't this just like the last time we were in this situation, Flower? Only this time, I won't just take out one of you. This time, it'll be three of you gone and then I can go home. Bring glory to my family and to my district." I held up my knife again, trying to find an opening to stab him and make him fall off the cave without Rue going with him, but I couldn't find one.

"Go on," he said. "Release the knife. Then we both go down and you two win. Go on. I'm dead anyway." He was completely and utterly crazed by this point, and tears ran down his blood-soaked face. "I always was, right? I didn't know it till now." He looked up at the sky. "Is that what they want?" he screamed. He looked back at me as I pulled my knife further behind me.

"Ha," he said. "No, no, I can still do this." He looked more crazed than before now, and seemed to be trying to convince himself as much as me. "I can still do this. Just one more kill." His tone turned mocking. "Bring pride to my district." Rue looked me in the eyes and the hand that had been holding onto Cato's arm that held the sword suddenly extended the pointer finger, tapped the hand slightly twice, and then retracted back to how it was before.

"Not that it matters," continued Cato.

And then in the blink of an eye I released the knife, which stabbed through Cato's hand before falling to the floor, making him drop Rue and topple over the side of the cave.

He screamed as the mutts surrounded him, and I could barely make myself look down at the scene. A moment later his face appeared within the throngs of mutts and looked so pained, so tortured, that it made me do the one thing I hadn't yet. I picked up the knife, drew it back, and made my first direct kill since I had been put in these blasted Games.

I didn't watch as the mutts disappeared. I threw my arms around Rue and Danvid and cried. I sobbed uncontrollably. I was now a murderer, and I knew that I would never get over that. And that was when I blacked out.

_The faces of Glimmer, Thresh, and Cato swam in front of my eyes. _

_Glimmer had been the first person that I had killed in my life, though it was indirect. I was the one that made the nest fall, the one that made them sting her. I was to be held at fault for her murder. But that had been different than Cato._

_Thresh was only dead because I was there, and because Danvid was there. If one or both of us had died before Rue found him, then he wouldn't have had to go and get himself killed by leaving. He would still be alive. I was to be held at fault for his murder too, even though the mutts had killed him._

_But I had killed Cato. I had embedded the knife in his skull. I had murdered him. I was the reason why Cato's family would be crying in their home right now, why a father, a sister, a cousin would never see him again. It was all my fault. It was all my fault. It was all my fault…_

I woke up to someone shaking me. When I looked up, saw both Danvid and Rue standing over me. The sun was already up, albeit barely. I stood up shakily.

"Did we win?" I asked.

"They haven't said so yet," said Danvid. But before he could go further, the speaker came on for the third time.

"Attention tributes, attention," Claudius said. "There has been a slight rule change. The previous revision allowing for three Victors has been… revoked. There may only be one Victor. Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor."

Danvid, Rue, and I looked at each other with wide eyes as the speaker cut out again. I looked around us for a way out of this and my eyes widened even more when I found one. Walking over to the bush not too far away from where we stood, I picked several small, blue berries and brought them back to my friends.

"All or nothing?" I asked, my face pale. Instantly my plan became known to them and they each took a small handful of berries and put them to their mouths. "Alright," I said, lifting my own to my lips. "One, two, thre—"

"Wait!" called the voice through the speaker again. "Ladies and gentlemen, the Victors of the seventy-fourth Hunger Games!"

**Yay! Normal sized chapter again! Alright, so I finished this chapter about a day after I finished the last one, so I would say that around that time my "muse" was very happy with me. Well, either that or she really liked you guys' reviews. Either way though, I would say that all in all this story was a success. **

**So now, since there is only one chapter left in this story, I am obligated to ask you guys if you want a sequel. Personally, I think that I would love to make one, and again it would be nothing like Catching Fire since that mainly focuses on the whole Peeta/Katniss/Gale thing and there's no reason to do that since Katniss hasn't become formally acquainted with Peeta yet (although I have to say that if it was possible at this point I much prefer Peeta with her instead of Gale) and Prim has no other love interest, so it would be completely unique. **

**Of course, the twist would probably be different as well, seeing as honestly I can't think of anything that Prim could do at this point to tick off the President besides the berry thing. I mean, next chapter might reveal **_**something**_**, but at this point I don't see how she could get him as mad with her as Katniss did. It wasn't only the thing with the Nightlock that he was not happy with, you know.**

**Anyway, I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter and, again, can't wait to hear what you think.**

**-CahillGirl2001**


	7. Prim in the Capitol

**Okay so this chapter is more of a "this needs to be said even though it won't ultimately effect this story" type of chapter. It just basically an outline what Prim feels during her interview and while she goes home. However, that being said, it does explain a bit about what was going on with Danvid while he was with Thresh. **

**Also, regarding the sequel, which I have decided will be written, I wanted to let you guys know that I have decided to call it "Rue in the Quell," so named because it will be in the POV of, yep you guessed it, Rue. I figured that writing in her POV would be a one-of-a-kind type of thing, so I've decided to do it that way. I hope nobody has a problem with that.**

**Anyway, I've got not much else to do but reply, so you can read now.**

**Rachel Kate Doxey: No problem! I am so glad that you liked it so much; I was kind of worried that I screwed up with that. As for a sequel that would involve Katniss and Peeta, I am gonna have to screw with the twist for the Quell a bit for that to happen but I am actually currently thinking of ways to do so. I dunno, it's gonna be hard. Anyway, I honestly didn't think that Prim would be one to just be all like "hey, I just got out of some Games that could have killed me, let's kiss the guy who is my best friend." I just didn't see it. Now, I don't really have anything else to say other than I hope you like the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Disclaimed.**

**Chapter Seven: Prim in the Capitol**

What happened next was a blur to me. A hover craft came to collect us not long after the announcement was made, taking us to the Capitol, where we were separated. Once again I was poked, prodded, waxed, and made like new. The nasty scar on my forehead that I had been sporting since the Feast was gone as well as any of the other burns, scars, and scrapes that I had endured.

Finally, somewhere around three days after I was taken out of the arena, Cinna and my prep team came to me to see how I was doing. Apparently, I wasn't allowed to see anyone but them until the interview later that night. The prep team almost instantly went to work on my hair and makeup, not allowing me to see it until the dress that Cinna made me was on. I nearly gasped out loud when I saw, almost four hours after they started on me, the finished product.

I wore a very light purple colored dress with the bodice completely made up of slightly darker purple primroses before puffing out slightly at the skirt, which was the very light purple color with a small trail of the darker colored primroses trailing from the bodice until the end of the dress, which ended at my knees, accessorized with simple purple flats. My hair had been put in a ponytail, which had then been clipped to my head with a clip the same color as my hair. What wasn't clipped to my head hung over the clip so that it looked like I had a very elegant half-ponytail/half-bun hair-do, with a small purple primrose at the top. I wore light pink lip gloss that looked absolutely natural, and no eye shadow. Eye liner made my blue eyes pop, and the overall effect was that of a beautiful little girl no older than eleven.

I was confused as I looked at Cinna. "Why do I look so young?" I asked. "I mean, I love the dress, but why?"

Cinna looked as though he wanted to answer, but suddenly Haymitch came into the room and answered for him. "Because of that stunt you and your friends pulled with the Nightlock," he said. "The President sees it as defiance, and we need to show him that you weren't meaning it that way. Tonight, when Caesar asks you about it, you are going to tell him that you were so scared of losing your best friends and of being the one to kill them, that even the thought of doing so was unbearable. Got it?"

I nodded my head, my eyes wide.

"Alright," he said. "It's time."

Cinna hugged me one more time before I went out, and then I was ushered into the hall, where Rue and Danvid were waiting to go out. Again, Danvid wore a simple suit with my purple primrose pinned to the lapel, but my eyes were immediately drawn to Rue more than him.

Her hair had been straightened out of its usual curls and had been put in a half-up, half-down hairdo with small, purple plastic butterflies strewn without it. Her dress was slightly darker than mine, but like mine the bodice had butterflies on it that were a slightly darker color of purple than the skirt, and on the skirt there was a trail of butterflies going from the bodice to the bottom of the skirt. It, like mine, stopped at the knees and was accessorized with purple flats. She wore makeup not unlike mine, and I noticed that every single piece of evidence that she had been in the Hunger Games was removed from her body. That is, until you looked into her eyes, where you could see they had lost the childish innocence that they had had before the Games. But then again, all three of us had that.

Rue was the first to walk on the stage, followed by Danvid precisely ten steps later, followed by me precisely ten steps after that. We sat in three chairs that were directly next to each other, with Rue closest to Caesar, Danvid next to her, and me next to him.

A small TV appeared in front of us, and on it began the footage of our games.

The bloodbath was, well, bloody. Like always, they waited until afterwards to let the cannons boom. After the cannons, they zoomed in on the Careers, who were making their way into the forest, when suddenly they caught sight of something to their right and began to pursue it.

The camera zoomed in on what they were chasing for a moment before they caught it, and I realized with a start that it was Danvid. I looked over at him and realized that he was watching the screen with a frown, his body rigid. I took his hand in mine and squeezed it reassuringly before looking back at the screen.

The Careers had caught Danvid and he was on his back on the ground, holding himself up with his elbows as they surrounded him. Glimmer was about to shoot an arrow at him (although I was almost sure she would miss anyway) when he suddenly yelled out for them to stopped. Glimmer glared at him and was getting ready to shoot again when I heard him say the words that I had been dreading.

"I can help you find Prim," he yelled, and just before Glimmer could shoot her arrow Cato grabbed her arm and made it jerk up violently, sending the arrow harmlessly up into the sky.

They talked for a while more before Clove, rolling her eyes, held her hand out to help Danvid off of the ground. As they started to walk away, the camera panned out and came to rest briefly on me, while I was in the middle of going through my backpack. I was still a fair distance from the Careers, but I knew from memory that they would find me not too long after I met Rue the next day.

The camera taped the anthem being played and the faces in the sky, and then went to the next day. For the most part of that day it stayed on Rue and I, occasionally panning out to the Careers or some other tributes, and I found myself zoning out until the next day.

Danvid had run from the Careers shortly after the Tracker Jacker incident, finding his way into Thresh's cave by mistake. By this point, apparently Thresh had just gotten there. After being caught and nearly killed by Thresh, Danvid was allowed to stay there. I saw clips of them bonding in between clips of Rue and I, and then when we met Finch the video basically alternated between small shots of the Careers, to longer shots of Thresh and Danvid, to longer shots of Rue, Finch, and I.

I had to hold back my tears as Finch died on tape, and it felt like the hole in my heart that had been made when it happened the first time got ripped open yet again, and I found myself holding onto Rue's and Danvid's hands like my life depended on it.

I watched us find Danvid and Thresh, and then I watched Thresh leave us. I watched him kill Marvel, and then I watched him go back into the forest for cover until Cato got back. I watched Cato get back, chased by the mutts, and I watched as Cato and Thresh caught eyes before starting to fight while trying to keep away from the mutts. I watched as Thresh was impaled by Cato's sword, not enough to kill him but enough to cause immense pain, and then I watched as the mutts tore him to pieces before the camera panned out to Danvid, Rue, and I.

I watched as terror clouded our faces, as we made our way out of the cave, as we saw Cato. I watched as we fought him, and I watched as he picked up Rue again. Rue's breathing quickened when this happened, and she squeezed my hand tightly. I watched as Cato did his speech, and I watched as I threw my knife at him. I watched as he fell, and I watched as the mutts surrounded him like they had Thresh. I watched as I threw the knife again, and I watched as the cannon sounded and the mutts ran away.

Then I watched as I sobbed against my friends before going limp in their arms. I watched as the sun rose, and as they laid me on the ground. I watched as they woke me up, and as the announcement was made that we had to kill each other was made. I watched as I grabbed the Nightlock. I watched as I distributed it to them. And then, finally, I watched as we put it to our mouths only to be stopped at the last minute.

And then the screen went black and the audience went wild.

"What a show!" cried Caesar happily as the audience quieted. "What a show. That was wonderful. Now, shall we start with Rue and work our way up?" We all nodded. "Good. Now, Rue, what were you feeling when you woke up and found Thresh and Danvid sitting there?"

"I felt happy," said Rue. "But I also felt sad. I guess, somewhere in my mind, I knew that one of us would have to die, but I didn't want to admit it to myself. I hated that Thresh was right, and I also hated that if I had died earlier on, he wouldn't have to die. I guess I kind of blame myself for his death, now."

The Capitolites (including Caesar) all cooed "sympathetically" at Rue and it took all I had in me not to roll my eyes. It was their fault that he died, not Rue's.

_Wait a minute_, I thought. _What am I thinking?_ Had being in the Games really changed me so much that I was being so harsh to the citizens of the Capitol? Yes, they were the reason that Thresh and Finch and the others were dead, but they didn't know it. They honestly thought that the Games were for fun; they probably didn't even think of the tributes as real people; only as characters in the best drama show on TV.

I was brought out of my thoughts abruptly as the audience clapped loudly and Caesar began talking again. "And that's about as much time as we have for you, Rue," he said. "Now, shall we go to Prim next?"

The others nodded and suddenly ten thousand eyes turned to me, just like they had the night before the Games.

"Primrose," said Caesar. "I believe that we were all very moved when you began to sing to young Finch before she died. Can you tell me what you were thinking and feeling in that moment?"

Tears pricked my vision. "I was sad," I said. "Finch was a sister to me, the same way as Katniss is. She, like every other tribute, had friends and family back in District Five that were just as sad about her passing as I was, and I felt like, by honoring her last wish and singing to her, I was comforting her in a way that her family and friends would have liked to, were they given the chance. I felt like it was my fault that she had died; if Rue and I hadn't been with her, she could have stayed out of sight and lived on. So I felt like, in a way, I had a debt to repay her and her loved ones for that."

Caesar nodded. "I understand," he said. "And what were you thinking when you found Danvid and Thresh?"

I smiled genuinely. "I felt happy," I said. "When I first realized it was him, I was so relieved that I had found my friend that I didn't even think before I ran to hug him. It wasn't until I realized that only three could survive that I realized that, no matter what, one of us wasn't living through it."

Caesar nodded again, his face sympathetic. "Now," he said. "We only have time for a couple of more questions, so why don't we go for a simple one? Who is your favorite Victor?"

It was a question that had been asked of every Victor thus far, and it took me a moment of thought before I answered. "Johanna Mason," I said.

Caesar looked pleased at my answer. "And why is that?"

"Because she reminds me of Finch," I said. "She was unsuspecting; nobody expected her to make it as far as she did. And while Finch wouldn't have killed anyone, while Johanna did, I think that their strategies are similar even if they went for completely different approaches of said strategies."

Caesar smiled and nodded again. "Well then," he said. "That is a wonderful answer, Primrose. Now, I believe it is Danvid's turn?"

And with that he turned to Danvid. "Danvid," he said. I believe that all of the Capitol was very happy to see that you found Primrose again during the Games. What were you thinking when that happened?"

"I wasn't," said Danvid. "I wasn't thinking of anything except for how relieved I was to see her alive and well."

"I see," said Caesar. "And what went through your head when you realized that Thresh was going to sacrifice himself for you three? I didn't see you fighting him very much on it." His tone wasn't accusatory; it was more curious.

"I didn't think that there was need," said Danvid. "By then I knew that if it had anything to do with the wellbeing of Rue there was no stopping water plan he had."

Caesar looked sympathetic. "He did seem like the stubborn type," he said. "Now, unfortunately there is only time for one more question, and it is one that has already been asked. Who is your favorite Victor?"

It took him less than a second to answer. "Finnick Odair."

**Aaaand… Scene! **

**The ending was less than spectacular, I'll admit, but I thought it was pretty dang cool. Anyway, I know that this chapter is slightly less long than the previous one, but honestly I couldn't think of another thing to do with this one without awkwardly cutting to the next scene with a line across the page; I figured it was best left where it was.**

**I hope you guys enjoyed this story, and that you all tune into the sequel, because unfortunately this is the end of this chapter and this story. I can't wait to start the sequel. 'Rue in the Quell' will be posted in about two weeks, on Friday as per the norm.**

**-CahillGirl2001**


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